As one of the biggest games of 2023, all eyes are on EA Sports to find out how FC 24 Career Mode shakes things up for the much-loved, but often missed-out mode in the series. Career Mode is often the place many of us will spend hundreds of hours, but sometimes it’s a mode that gets forgotten or left behind a bit.
We recently had a chance to attend a 90-minute-long producer session, where each of EA Sports FC 24’s producers had a chance to come out and speak about their mode, and FC 24 career mode had a big part of that, with Alex Constantinescu (Principal Game Designer) and Pete O’Donnell (Game Design Director) speaking about not one, but two modes, as Player and Manager career are split up this year.
Manager Career: tactical vision
EA says this year the focus is on a “total management system”, offering more control, and a chance to implant your tactical vision onto a team. There are seven tactical visions to choose from, including the likes of Tika Taka, Gegenpressing, Park the Bus, and so on.
This plays into some of the other new features for FC 24 such as Play Styles. For example, you can now focus on individual fixtures in terms of preparation. You’ll get pre-match reports, and therefore you and your backroom staff can prepare a training plan. This means you can select drills that exploit the weaknesses of your upcoming opponent, and will allow you to gain temporary Play Style bonuses for players who otherwise wouldn’t have them. If you’re up against a team that plays “Park the Bus” for instance, you can train with the “Drill Maze” and that will give lesser talented players temporary access to the Technical Dribbler Play Style.
FC 24 career mode: coaches and backroom staff
As well as hiring scouts, now you have to hire backroom staff in the form of coaches. The idea is that you’ve set your stall out as a manager who likes Tika Taka, you’ll hire coaches that also help in that area, making you upgrade your players and get the tactics across more quickly.
EA’s team explained that the idea is to combine your tactical vision with your coaching staff to get the best results.
Tactical view
Tactical view is a new camera angle for spectating matches. You can focus on a single player, or you can orbit the ball. Crucially you can make changes as the match goes on, and honestly, some of it reminded me of the old FIFA Manager games, and more recently, of course, the Football Manager series.
FC 24 career mode: player career
Not to be outdone, Player Career now includes player agents. You will be offered guidance and objectives that will help you try to make your career path trajectory. Basically, on-the-pitch objectives that, should you achieve them, can make your dream move a reality.
Of course, you can also incorporate the Play Style system into your pro, and the player cam will have a larger focus on you as a player. That’s not all, however, as you can now win the Ballon D’or award in-game, with a cut scene playing out and everything. There are other awards you can win, but EA hasn’t revealed them yet.
- Read our FC 24 hands-on preview feature
- Find out what changes have been made to Ultimate Team
- What’s new in Pro Clubs and Volta?
EA Sports FC 24 launches on all formats on September 29th, 2023.